“Comfortably the best option”- Josh Hazlewood hits back at his Mitchell Johnson over criticism of keeping IPL ahead of tests

Josh Hazlewood faced criticism after only taking 2 wickets in Australia’s WTC final loss to South Africa.

Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has reacted to Mitchell Johnson’s harsh critique. The former fast bowler Johnson had criticised Hazlewood for putting the Indian Premier League (IPL) ahead of test cricket after Australia were crushed by South Africa in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-2025 final.

Johnson’s remarks were made while Hazlewood was playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2025, which ended on June 3, just around one week before the ICC WTC 2023-25 final. In the WTC final, Hazlewood only took two wickets, which infuriated the former fast bowler.

“Our successful ‘big four’ bowling attack of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon can’t be taken for granted as a lock going forward either.“

“We’ve seen concerns about Hazlewood’s fitness in recent years, and his decision to prioritize returning to the delayed Indian Premier League over his national team preparations raised eyebrows. Lyon didn’t look his best on day three either,” Johnson wrote in The West Australian.

Josh Hazlewood picked 22 wickets for RCB in IPL 2025 and helped the Rajat Patidar-led RCB win their maiden IPL title.

Josh Hazlewood responds to Mitchell Johnson’s criticism of playing IPL over practicing for WTC final  

In response to Johnson’s recent remarks, Hazlewood outlined why the IPL was the ideal preparation he could have hoped for before the ICC WTC 2023-25 final at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.

“I haven’t seen any of that, to be honest. We know what’s going on inside our rooms. It seemed far and away the best place to get ready for any type of cricket that was coming up. The weather was definitely a factor as well. Just getting over there and playing intense competition like that, it’s hard to replicate in training,” Hazlewood told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Hazlewood revealed that while he was in Australia, it was raining and he had nowhere to bowl and practice for the ICC WTC 2023-25 final, hence he went back to India and joined the RCB squad and practised with them.

“Sydney, it was raining, and I had literally nowhere to bowl. I got to Brisbane for three or four days, and it was very wet. We were lucky to get on. I just thought the best place to bowl was India. We were still in the competition, we were going to play the semis, and I was going to be there for 10 days. I think it was comfortably the best option,” the fast bowler concluded.

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